Spotted my first cougar…

Roper

Idiot Savant, still
Forum Supporter
…the big four legged kind. I was leaving the ranch Saturday morning headed down the Chesaw Road to town. One group of mule deer crossed the road and headed into the creek bottom. There were seven or eight of them in the group and one straggler. Not a couple hundred yards down the cougar crossed in the same direction. I was shocked at how large it was. Head to tip of tail it was almost as long as the road is wide. It’s also shocking to me how long their tails are. The creek is fairly wooded and probably a good place for it to ambush a mulie.

Now that I know there’s one in the area I’ll be taking the 45, not the 9 on our walks with Maya. But I’m betting it will be well fed on venison.
 

Paige

Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
Very cool Roper, I'm still waiting for my first sighting!
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
Very cool! I was also impressed with the size and athleticism of the cougar I saw in my one and only sighting so far. I was riding shotgun at near dark evening, heading west on I-90 between Elk Heights and Cle Elum. The big cat made it across both lanes and shoulders in two bounds (one hop in the middle of the lanes), and it seemed like its full extended length mid-bound nearly extended over both lanes.

I just wonder how many times I've been seen by THEM.
 

DFG

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
…the big four legged kind. I was leaving the ranch Saturday morning headed down the Chesaw Road to town. One group of mule deer crossed the road and headed into the creek bottom. There were seven or eight of them in the group and one straggler. Not a couple hundred yards down the cougar crossed in the same direction. I was shocked at how large it was. Head to tip of tail it was almost as long as the road is wide. It’s also shocking to me how long their tails are. The creek is fairly wooded and probably a good place for it to ambush a mulie.

Now that I know there’s one in the area I’ll be taking the 45, not the 9 on our walks with Maya. But I’m betting it will be well fed on venison.
Several years back my wife and I took a detour onto one of the FS roads in Chinook Pass for a picnic lunch. On the way back out to the highway we encountered a mountain lion on a narrow section of road. The steep banks on either side channeled the cat and gave us the chance to follow it for about 100 yards before it found an opening and bounded away.

Since then I no longer use the word Cougar, lest it conjure images of a fluffy sports team mascot. Make no mistake: This was a Mountain fucking Lion. It was an eye opener!
 

Rio Grande King

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Outstanding, I'm envious. Have seen their prints in my cross-country ski tracks and "had that feeling" but never caught sight of one.
 

clarkman

average member
Forum Supporter
That is so cool! I e only been privy to a kill (OR coast steelheading) or tracks, very big ones, above locked gate on the Deschutes.
 

doublespey

Let.It.Swing
Forum Supporter
Seen two, one in the backcountry (Queets headwaters) and one in the suburbs (Talus/Issaquah). The one in the wilderness saw us and headed for a willow grove where a creek entered the river. We were tent camping and it certainly got our attention. The one in Issaquah was closer and bigger - at dusk (and right where people walk their foofoo dogs each morning) we were driving out of the parking lot and what I thought was a great dane stepped into the road about 20 yds in front of our car. My girlfriend and I were in her little coupe and were looking up a this thing. Simultaneously I notice the tail and the cat turns and looks down at us in the car. Then it casually walked off the side of the road and down the hill. That was one big cat!
 

Yard Sale

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Been watching the hills for them for years floating rivers and never have seen one. I know they are in the area though.

Camped at a fairly remote put in with my 3 dogs once. Had some beers by the fire and was sleeping in a bit when I heard a single shot. I got up and starting making coffee when an old timer came driving out from the back of the small campground.
Those your dogs?
Yup
Might not want to let them wander round here. Look in the back of my truck.

There was a freshly killed cougar that took up the majority of his full size bed. Beautiful animal, not really sure why you would want to kill one, but it did spook me a little bit. Wonder if it had been watching us the night before. I know my dogs wandered all over the campground that evening.
 

Clean Willy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
So jealous! It's been a lifelong goal of mine but have yet to see one. I'm running out of time and have thought about hiring a guide to help me fine one.
 

jasmillo

}=)))*>
Forum Supporter
Awesome sighting for sure! I’m always on the lookout but I’ve only seen one. Fishing the Cheesman/Deckers area in Colorado 11-12 years ago. Some other fisherman spotted it first. Sitting on the opposite side of the river from us cleaning itself. One paw draped over a freshly killed Mule Deer. It was huge but as I stood there watching it I was also amazed at how much it’s behaviors mimicked a house cat. Licking its paw, rubbing it across its face, etc. such a cool experience. After that, I started wearing my sunglasses on the back of my head hiking into Cheesman to fish. When I was a kid a remembered reading a National Geographic story about how farmers in India wore masks on the back of their head to thwart Tiger attacks (they attack from behind). So figured I’d give that a shot…ha.
 

Dr. Magill

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
My buddy hit one on I-5 approaching Bellingham northbound
He said it spun around 4 or 5 times on the freeway then took off
 

RCF

Life of the Party
I live in Renton Highlands and see one every couple of years or so.... One year one was laying under a neighbor's RV just watching the world go by. Other times in the yard down by the lake or the edge of the woods. Magnificent animals for sure.
 
Last edited:

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
Awesome sighting for sure! I’m always on the lookout but I’ve only seen one. Fishing the Cheesman/Deckers area in Colorado 11-12 years ago. Some other fisherman spotted it first. Sitting on the opposite side of the river from us cleaning itself. One paw draped over a freshly killed Mule Deer. It was huge but as I stood there watching it I was also amazed at how much it’s behaviors mimicked a house cat. Licking its paw, rubbing it across its face, etc. such a cool experience. After that, I started wearing my sunglasses on the back of my head hiking into Cheesman to fish. When I was a kid a remembered reading a National Geographic story about how farmers in India wore masks on the back of their head to thwart Tiger attacks (they attack from behind). So figured I’d give that a shot…ha.
You are not alone in this behaviour. I've got a few trails that scream "ambush" to me and you bet your ass I've got my sunglasses on backwards. I've known people who sew fake eyes all along their beanies so they always appear to be looking in all directions.

You dont hear about a lot of cougar attacks, but people go missing in the woods all the time.
 

Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
That's cool you got to see one. In all the years I worked in the mountains I only saw one, and yes, not a house cat size animal, bigger than a lab by far.
BTW, same number of times I've seen a bigfoot. The cat didn't stink though. :)
 

Bambooflyguy

Life of the Party
Years ago I was fall mushroom hunting with my mom by Packwood when a frickin huge mountain lion crossed the dirt road 100’ feet from us. It stopped and stared at us for a moment, then walked slowly into the woods.....I’m glad I had my 9mm Ruger with 19 hollow points but even happier I didn’t have to use it!
 

troutstalker

Born to Fish...Forced to Work
Forum Supporter
I've been lucky enough to have 3 cougar sightings. First one was in Montana, just outside of Polson over 20 years ago. Headed to a party in the woods in High School and it jumped out in front of the car and then jumped away into the bushes. The 2nd and 3rd sightings were in the forest around Snoqualmie/North Bend between I-90 and Highway 2. One of the sightings was one jumping out onto a logging road in front of my car and then jumped across the road into the woods. The other sighting was on another logging road where I came around a corner and it was just slowly walking down the logging road. I was able to follow it for quite a ways in my car. I stayed back as not to spook it but it didnt seem to care and just kept on walking and eventually walked off the road onto a small trail back into the woods. It was giant and I was also amazed at how large/long its tail was. These last 2 sightings around the Snoqualmie/North Bend area were in the same general area that a cougar attacked 2 guys on bicycles and killed 1 of them. I love wildlife.
 
Very cool, Roper! Glad you made his acquaintance.

I've seen two in the wild (I use that term loosely for the second one). The first was while doing fieldwork in central Nevada in the early 80s driving down a two-track at dusk looking for a place to camp. It came out of the sagebrush from the right about 50 feet in front of my car and loped down the road ahead of me for 50-100 yards before turning off the road and heading up towards a ridge. I got out of my car and watched it with glasses 'til it moved into the junipers on the ridgeline. I decided I'd drive on for a ways before camping...

The second time was when I lived in Boulder, CO, in a house that backed up to the open space west of town. There had been a number of sightings in our neighborhood that spring, but I never saw it. One morning word started around that there was one on the hillside above our house. Boulder has (or at least had back then) an infestation of deer in the open space where hunting was not permitted. They attracted mountain lions. So, I walked up to see what I could see. What I saw was about 100 people with cameras, binoculars, etc. watching a lion stretched out on a patch of snow near a freshly killed deer. It had eaten its fill and wanted to take a nap on the snow on a warm spring day. Totally unconcerned by all the people within a couple hundred feet of it.
 
Top